Moderation Policy
Plain English, on purpose. Last updated August 2026.
Marion News exists because this valley needed a place where information doesn't disappear because someone disagreed with it. Moderation here is narrow, transparent, and logged in public.
What we will remove (the hard lines)
- Content that is illegal (including CSAM, which is also reported to authorities).
- True threats of violence, or incitement to imminent lawless action.
- Doxxing — posting a private person's home address, phone number, or similar private details without their consent.
- Impersonating a real person or organization.
- Spam.
That's the whole list.
What we will never remove
- Opinions — including ones most of the valley disagrees with.
- Criticism of local government, businesses, public figures, or officials.
- Criticism of Marion News itself, its moderators, or its admin.
- Heated arguments, strong language, and unpopular takes.
- Reports and observations that turn out to be mistaken (they can be corrected, not erased).
How it works
- Anything can be reported using the Report button.
- Reported content STAYS VISIBLE while under review, with one exception: content reported under a hard-line category can be temporarily hidden by a moderator, for a maximum of 24 hours, while a decision is made.
- Only hard-line violations can be removed. Everything else is closed as "kept".
- Every action appears in the public Moderation Log (action, content type, violation category, date — no usernames).
- Every action is also written to an internal append-only audit table — moderators cannot edit or delete their own history.
- We do not use shadowbans. If action is taken on you, you can see it.
Bans
- Accounts are banned only for hard-line violations or ban evasion.
- Guests who violate hard lines can be blocked by device.
- All bans appear in the public log.
Appeals
Email [email protected] with a link or description of the action. You'll get a substantive response within 72 hours. Appeals are decided by the site admin, not the moderator who took the original action where possible.
Obituaries and milestones are different
The one place with pre-publication review is the memorial content: obituaries, their condolence guestbooks, and milestones. That's a dignity requirement, not a speech one.